Shelley Luther salon lockdown texas trial
© CBS DFWMoyé found Luther in criminal and civil contempt of court on Tuesday. In addition to jail time, he ordered her to pay $500 to the court for every day she opened her salon. Luther pictured in court Tuesday
A Dallas hair salon owner who defied a Coronavirus lockdown order will spend seven days in jail, according to a local news report. The salon owner refused to keep her business closed and defied a direct cease and desist order from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in April.

"Shelley Luther, a Dallas hair salon owner who opened in violation of the governor's executive order, sentenced to 7 days in jail for civil / criminal contempt of court and fined $7,000," CBSDFW reported Andrea Lucia tweeted on Tuesday.


Lucia later corrected her tweet and reported the fine to be $500 per day — $3,500 so far and growing.


The move to fine and incarcerate Luther comes on the same day that Governor Greg Abbott announced that hair salons will be able to re-open on Friday, May 8.

In April, Salon Á la Mode owner Shelley Luther re-opened her hair salon in defiance of orders by the county that she remained closed, Breitbart Texas reported on April 25. "Every owner of every salon should use their own best judgement when to reopen," the Texas governor said during a press conference that occurred at the same time the fine and jail sentence were announced in Dallas.

At this time, it is not clear what judge issued the contempt order that includes the seven-day jail sentence and the fine pf $500 per day.

Luther told WFAA ABC8 she is "prepared to take on whatever it is that comes with" re-opening her business. She said she had to choose between paying her lease or her mortgage this month because of the stay-at-home order.

"I don't want to cause any problems, but when you're out of money someone has to stand up and say that they're not helping us by not letting us work," she explained. Luther is unable to perform any of her three jobs — musician, makeup artist, and hairstylist — because of the lockdown of the county.

Now, according to the local CBS affiliate's reporter, "whatever it is that comes with" is a seven-day jail term for contempt and a fine of $$500 per day.

"I'm behind on my mortgage," she explained at the time. "I know a lot of my stylists haven't paid their mortgage. It's either come in and make money to be able to feed your family or stay home and freak out."

"Obviously I don't want anyone to get sick and I don't want the virus to spread," Luther continued. "It will be one of the safer places for people to go rather than going to Walmart or Home Depot."

"I will not pay the fine," the defiant salon owner told reporters in April.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston's What's Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.